Think About It

Well, for most of Major League Baseball, the 2024 campaign is done.  Yes, there are a few teams still participating it the playoffs, but for the vast majority, it’s over.  This begins the “off season” which is designed to reflect and retool.  Many clubs will evaluate their managers, players and philosophies and decide whether they worked or not.  Some will stay the same, others will make adjustments and a few will make significant changes.  The front offices can’t impact the 2024 season, but they can set themselves up for a better 2025.    The reason I bring this up is that this is a pretty good application for all of us.   What do we do at the end of each day?   Do we come home and just collapse on the couch or do we take a little bit of our evening and evaluate how well the day did (or didn’t) go.   No, not every day will be a success; but every day can be a learning experience.   We might not get every decision correct, but when ...

I was recently scrolling through some quotes by past Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren who said, “To get what you want, STOP doing what isn’t working.”.  As I read that, I thought I detected a firm grasp of the obvious; however, the more I got to thinking about it the less obvious it seemed – or at the very least how much we have ignored it.  Warren’s observation seemed to remind me of an adage, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”.  Now, you might be wondering why I am waxing philosophically.  Well, the answer is that there seems to be a lot of complaining about how dissatisfied we are with things; but also seeing how little change we are trying to make.  We complain about disunity in our communities, but we keep turning up the flame on biased comments.  We fuss about how violence is up and morals are down but we keep putting up with bad behavior.  We lament the state of our young people, but keep ign...

I don’t know if the show is as popular these days as it was in years gone by but a lot of us know the story of Pinocchio.  If you aren’t familiar with the tale of the puppet who became a boy, I am sure you can tune into Disney+ account and watch the show.  In all honesty, I have never been a big fan of the show and can’t tell you too many of the details about it, but one character I do know is Jiminy Cricket.  One of the roles that this insect plays in the story is to remind the boy to let his conscience be his guide.  In essence, when the new kid faced a challenge, he could rely on his knowledge of good and evil to guide him.  (And since it was a Disney movie from a while ago, the implication was for Pinocchio to choose good.)   Wouldn’t it be good to have a cricket as our moral leader and guide – someone who could help us know the good we should do and encourage us to do it?  Interestingly, we have something (or Someone) much better than insect....

One of the more common words used in Christianity is “conversion”.   Often times it references the process by which someone enters Christianity or goes through the process of becoming a member of a church.   While this is an appropriate use of the word, I think that this concept can have its greatest impact when we understand that conversion should mean more than a minor adjustment – it is represents the reshaping of a life.   In essence, if you want to learn more about Christian conversion, take a look at the time of the Apostle Paul.   Early on in his life, Saul was committed to Judaism.   He was a Jew’s Jew.   He was deeply embedded in the Hebrew religion.   Not only did he support his like-minded believers, he also opposed – and even oppressed – those who left Judaism to follow Jesus.   Then, one day, on his way to persecute defectors in Damascus he met Jesus and within a matter of days he converted to Christianity.   The one who had arre...

Do you ever get discouraged because you don’t get the results you expected (or hoped) to get?   As a minister, trainer and teacher I face this discouragement on a regular basis.   The problem is that no matter what I do, there is only so much I can do.   Sure, maybe I could work harder or develop better skills; but at the end of the day, I can only control with I can control – and I have to be okay with that.   Interestingly, I believe that there gets to be a point of diminishing results when it comes to effort.   There needs to be a point in time when we believe like we have done all we can do and unless we come to grips with that reality, we will keep pushing ourselves to the point of discouragement – and that can lead to the temptation of giving up.   The other day Jeane sent me a saying, “We control the effort, not the outcome.”.   As I tried to get to the source of this thought, I realized a lot of people are credited with it (including Bryant M...

How does the world look at Christians?  It is easy to become defensive about the perception the world has of us and, while sometimes it is unjustified, there are other times when we bring some of the negativism on ourselves.  Take, for example, their perception of us when it comes to politics.  I get the feeling that some of the American public looks at believers in Jesus as being out of touch … blinded by certain issues … filled with vitriol aimed at those who disagree with them.  While most of us usually have a good handle on our emotions, it is easy to get riled up in political arguments.  The problem with this is that our critics have trouble justifying our message of love when we are intolerant of certain social and political segments.  Now, please do not misunderstand me – I believe there is a difference between right and wrong and we must always stand on the side of what is good and righteous – however, when it comes to the game of politics, we need ...

I recently read about a friend of mine who had passed away.  I call him a friend even though the miles and years had separated us to the point that I read about his death through an online obituary.  Yet, through the years, his underlying influence has inspired me and has been a teaching point in many of my presentations on dealing with crisis.  My background has a connection to emergency services while he came from the mental health world, but together we worked with First Responders who were dealing with difficult situations.  We would travel miles to meet with people who had been a part of something horrific and it was on one of those trips where I learned that when we would finish with one of these interventions, he would have to live with the images presented in the discussions for hours or days later.  I was wired to be able to leave the stories in the room, he carried them with him.  Yet, the thing that impressed me was his willingness to keep going ...